Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and inalienable, women’s human rights must form an integral part of all discussions at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR).

It is important to understand that racism, racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance affect women differently, aggravate their living conditions, generate multiple forms of violence, thus limiting or denying enjoyment of their human rights. It is essential that the issues of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance must be looked at within the context of an understanding of the inter-sectionality of all forms of discrimination, including gender.

The CERD Committee has noted that racial discrimination does not always affect women and men equally or in the same way. There are circumstances in which racial discrimination only or primarily affects women, or affects women in a different way, or to a different degree than men. General recom. 25. (General Comments) General Recommendation XXV Gender Related Dimensions of Racial Discrimination (Fifty-sixth session, 2000).

Asia-Pacific NGOs have documented examples from the Asia-Pacific region which prove that the oppression women suffer because of their race, religion, caste, ethnicity, nationality and other socio-political categories is aggravated by the discrimination they face because of their gender. As a result, women, more than men, are subjected to double or multiple manifestations of human rights violations. Intersectional discrimination must be examined based on the daily experiences of women and girls, within both private and public spheres.

CAUSES / SOURCES

The roots of many contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance can be located in the legacy of colonialism and patriarchy, which created historical and contemporary injustices based on ideologies of superiority and dominance. Patriarchal social structures continue to reinforce all forms of discrimination against women.

In addition some of the common causes of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance against women in the Asia-Pacific include globalisation, poverty, political and social oppression, ethnic, religious, gender and caste-based discrimination, situations of violence and armed conflict.

The Asian governments have called attention to the poverty and economic disparities amongst various parts of the world which owe their existence in part to colonial exploitation which contributed significantly to the persistence of racist attitudes. The current forms of globalisation, that are based on unequal power relations and supported by governments, transnational corporations and international finance and development institutions, continue to reinforce economic disparities and related racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance between peoples and nations at the national, regional and international level.

Violence against women, which is a violation of women’s human rights, is the most direct and abhorrent manifestation of racism, xenophobia and intolerance against women in the Asia-Pacific region. All forms of violence including gender based violence are heightened by racism, caste-based, racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Such violence can take the form of familial violence in the instances of honor killings, as communal and military violence in the mass rape of women from ethnic minorities or indigenous communities, as discrimination against Dalit women on the basis of caste distinctions and as global violence through the trafficking of women.

Violence against women is also manifested as state violence in situations of armed conflict through rape, forced relocation, forced labor, torture, summary executions of women, forced deportation, and racist State policies denying or limiting public representation, health care, education, employment and access to legal redress.

Of particular concern for the WCAR is the increasing violence in situations of armed conflict. Ideological frameworks developed by extreme forms of nationalism and fundamentalism which reify women’s image as ‘bearers of the culture and values’ have lead to the widespread occurrence of sexual assaults against women as political acts of aggression. Alarmingly, racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance have increasingly been used by state and non-state actors to incite armed conflicts over resources and rights within and between countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

VICTIMS

In the current global and local contexts, previously unrecognised victims groups are emerging and seeking recognition as specific groups vulnerable to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Particularly in the contexts of the Asia-Pacific, these emerging groups include:

• Women in situations of armed conflict;
• Dalit women;
• Women in migration;
• Women in trafficking;
• Refugee women and displaced women;
• Women of ethnic/national minorities;
• Women of religious groups;
• Indigenous women.

MEASURES/ /REMEDIES AND STRATEGIES

Recommendations

Intersectionality of Race and Gender

• We urge member states to support the call by Asian governments for the recognition that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance manifest themselves in an aggravated and differentiated manner for women, causing their living standards to deteriorate, generating multiple forms of violence and limiting or denying women the benefit and the exercise of their human rights. In this, we urge all member states to ensure that the specific impact of the intersectionality of gender and other forms of discrimination with racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance be recognised and addressed in all aspects of the WCAR Declaration and Programme of Action, and not be limited to a single catch-all clause on racial discrimination;
• A gender perspective is incorporated into the development of all strategies, policies and programmes which may include affirmative action, to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, in order to address the multiple discrimination against women, specifically women of marginalised groups including indigenous women, women of caste, ethnic and national minority women, women from religious groups, refugee and internally displaced women, migrant women, and trafficked women;
• We ask governments to create temporary special measures as outlined in Article 1 (4) of ICERD and Article 6 of CEDAW to create conditions of equality for historically disadvantaged communities, including women, using a perspective that looks at the intersectionality of various forms of discrimination.

UN Treaties

• Member states ratify the ICERD, CEDAW and its Optional Protocol, ICCPR and its Optional Protocol, ICESCR, the ICC Treaty, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Additional Protocol, the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, adopt the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ratify all other pertinent international instruments for the protection of fundamental human rights;
• Standards on women’s human rights codified in international instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action must be integrated in the WCAR Declaration and Programme of Action and in the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination;
• All member states to lift reservations to ICERD and making a Declaration under Article 14 of the Convention which will enable the filing of individual complaints to the Committee monitoring the implementation of the Convention.

UN Related Measures

• In the context of intersectionality of race and gender, it is important that the ICERD and CEDAW committees work more closely together to strengthen recommendations for legislation, policies and programmes that decisively address the multiple discrimination against women in racially, ethnically and economically marginalised communities;
• The CEDAW Committee to elaborate a General Recommendation on the intersectionality of racism with gender;
• The High Commissioner for Human Rights ensure that all the mechanisms of the human rights system, including rapporteurs, treaty bodies, commissions and expert meetings incorporate an intersectional analysis of discrimination in their work;
• The High Commissioner for Human Rights support the introduction of a UN Special Rapporteur to look at the impact of intersectional discrimination on the basis of race and gender;
• All UN bodies, member states and human rights organisations undertake to include an intersectional approach to all data gathering and analysis, by including race and sex disaggregated data. This applies to a spectrum of mechanisms including human rights documentation, reporting to human rights treaty bodies, fact finding missions, policy recommendations, and in making and implementing commitments under platforms and plans of action adopted at world conferences.

Legal Measures

• Member states identify and implement a wide range of legislative, judicial and executive strategies to address the causes and manifestations of the intersection of gendered racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, related intolerance and meet their obligations under international agreements they have signed and ratified;
• The Asian governments recognised the need for affirmative action policies and programs for their judiciary, law enforcement and the legislature and we urge member states to extend these policies and programs to address multiple forms of discrimination, including gender;
• The Asian governments recognised the need to promote justice free from racial discrimination of a any kind. In addition, we urge member states to create special training programmes for public officials, members of the judiciary and the legal profession, and members of law enforcement agencies to make them more sensitive to the intersectionality of various forms of discrimination with a special emphasis on gender-sensitivity.

Education:

• The Asian governments have recognised that education is key to the promotion of respect for racial, cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity and for the promotion of democratic values and raising awareness of human rights, as means of preventing the spread of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. In support of this, we urge member states to promote greater social and political respect for all forms of diversity through educational curricula, community programmes and the mass media, which includes a perspective on the intersectionality of various forms of discrimination and a special focus on the eradication of stereotypes based on race, caste, sex, descent, national or ethnic origin, occupation and other factors;
• Member states provide access to education and training for women from vulnerable groups (eg. indigenous women, economically disadvantaged women, Dalit women, women from ethnic minorities, etc.) as a strategy for addressing the economic, social and political disadvantage experienced by women from vulnerable groups.

Economic Development Measures

• The international community hold trans-national corporations, international, regional and national development and finance institutions and international and national development organisations accountable for discriminatory practices on the basis of racism, race discrimination, xenophobia, related intolerance and gender discrimination which perpetuate marginalisation. All member states take appropriate measures to put an end to the impunity of these actors.

Caste

• All member states give full consideration to the elimination of caste as an insidious and deeply entrenched form of discrimination, in the form of related intolerance, on the basis of work and descent, which aggravates discrimination against women of these communities;
• All member states recognise that caste discrimination is a contemporary form of slavery that should be abolished and the abolishment be enforced, even where the perpetrators are States or State agents;
• Member states ensure Dalit women’s right to livelihood, right to land, right to life, right to protection from violence, right to participate in decision making structures, and equal access to all State and private sector institutions.

Indigenous Peoples

• All member states undertake to enable indigenous people’s rights to self determination be realised and to redress and reform the inherently racist legislation, policies and programmes that have displaced, marginalised and severely discriminated against indigenous peoples and which have contributed to the removal of their land rights, the decimation of their cultures and their heightened vulnerability in situations of migration and trafficking;
• Member states strengthen the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by recognising rights specific to indigenous women in the Declaration, particularly in relation to access to land and survival of indigenous women’s cultural knowledge and practices;
• Member states to condemn the use of force and violence by state and non-state actors against indigenous women and communities and take strong action to prevent such violence;
• Member to states to ensure the equal access of indigenous women to safe housing, appropriate maternal health care, reproductive rights, education, social security and other social services.

Migrants and Trafficked Persons

• In support of the Asia governments call for the condemnation and repeal of immigration and citizenship laws that are motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, member states amend immigration legislation and policies to improve accessibility, especially of women and children, to legal forms of migration, and ensure transparency of the processes related to migration;
• Member states promote and protect the health rights of migrant women workers and trafficked persons, including providing access to adequate maternal and reproductive health services and occupational safety measures;
• Member states to eliminate all forms of violence against women migrants and trafficked women and provide access to recompense and redress for actions of violence against women.

Ethnic and National Minorities / Religious Groups

• All member states ensure the full range of human rights are upheld for all members of ethnic and national minorities and religious groups, with special attention be given to removing any discriminatory policies and programs, on the basis of race and gender, that impact on women from ethnic, national and religious groups;
• All member states to protect women of ethnic and national minorities and religious groups from violent actions committed by state and non-state actors in situations of armed conflict;
• The right to citizenship be enforced for all ethnic and national minorities, especially for women, within these marginalised groups;
• Member to states to ensure the equal access of ethnic/national minority women and women from religious groups to safe housing, appropriate maternal health care, reproductive rights, education, social security and other social services.

Youth

• All policies, programs and activities identified for addressing race, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, account for the needs of youth, particularly young women, who are impacted upon by multiple forms of discrimination.

Refugees and Displaced Persons

• Recognition and implementation of gender based violence as a form of persecution and a ground to seek asylum according to the Refugee Convention;
• The Asian governments have recognised that refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons are vulnerable to manifestations of racism, racial discrimination xenophobia and related forms of intolerance. In addition, we urge member to states to ensure the equal access of refugee women to safe housing, appropriate maternal health care, reproductive rights, education, social security and other social services;
• UNHCR update their definition of refugees and individual status determination procedure to ensure that rights of people who are evicted by ethnic violence and women at risk are protected ;
• UNHCR support the better integration of women in refugee camp management and policy making and management system for relief and rehabilitation.

Violence Against Women/ Armed Conflict

• Member states undertake all measures without delay for the elimination of all forms of violence against women, including stringent measures in dealing with state and non-state perpetrators of violence, and providing access to remedies for women who have been subjected to violence;
• We urge governments to review and reform national laws related to violence against women to guarantee that they also address violence against women based on racism, racial, caste-based, and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and that special programmes be created to address the needs of women victims of such forms of violence. In addition, governments should also invest resources in providing women victims of such violence with legal aid programmes and other forms of recourse.

Democratic Participation and Governance

• The Asian governments have emphasised the importance of equitable participation of all peoples and nations without discrimination in domestic and global decision making processes and institutions. This participation should be extended to promote forms of governance that are based on principles of equality and non-discrimination, including equality for women.

Media and International Communication Technologies

• In recognition of the key role that mass media, including the Internet, plays in shaping opinions and inculcating attitudes of tolerance, pluralism and avoidance of gender and racially stereotyped messages, we urge governments to provide greater support to strengthen the community based media that gives voice to members of disadvantaged communities, particularly women. Any attempt to mitigate hate speech and racist and xenophobic messages must take into full cognisance the rights to freedom of expression (Article 23 of the UDHR).

Prepared by: Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)
NOTE: This is a working paper that has been prepared by APWLD in consultation with women’s NGOs and other grassroots organisations in the Asia-Pacific. The issues in this paper will continue to be developed over the coming months in preparation for WCAR. APWLD would welcome your feedback and suggestions.

APWLD
Santitham YMCA Building 3^rd floor, Room 305-308, 11 Sermsuk Road, Soi Mengrairasmi, Chiangmai 50300 Thailand; Tel: (66 53) 404 613-4, Fax: (66 53) 404 615 Email: apwld@loxinfo.co.th Website: www.apwld.org